The G r e e n e s t Sea
by Maegwynn O Lander
Summary: What happens when the universe reveals itself? Bend the rules and break the rod. Keep an eye on the devil you know, lest you let slip through the cracks the devil you don't. Time is relative for the soul. May the Goddess keep you... (If you know whose cover picture that is, TELL ME! I don't know how i acquired it, it's too perfect not to use and i want to give credit!)
1. The Epistle of Koios

Raindrops pound the earth relentlessly, falling down from the swirling skies at around 1:34 this afternoon, according to Colonel Jack O'Neill's wristwatch. Buckets of water practically dump down upon most of southern Montana, the sky overcast, filled with rolls of billowing gray. Lightning flashes somewhere on the other side of the mountains, followed by an unearthly baritone, that rumbles across the heavens. The rainy season begins with an alpha-lion roar and Jack sits in a comfy chair contentedly, on the side of his porch, sipping on a freshly cracked beer. He ruffles his recently peppered hair, wishing he had set up some sort of make-shift tent so that he could still fish during the storm. He considers setting it up now, but by the end of it he'd be soaked anyway, so there'd be no point to it. Besides, he always liked the sound of rain and thunder, and he nods his head in concurrennce with his thoughts, looking forward to this rainy day, taking another swig of beer.  
The day before last, General Hammond suggested that SG-1 take some personal time off the base for a couple of days, before they were due for their next mission. Jack complied eagerly, and packed up most of his things before the General could even blink twice. Teal'c went home to his family on Chulak for a little while, despite Jack's weekend fishing invitiation. Daniel, however, did not take this grand opportunity for some 'me-time', and instead went to...some old moon with...old rocks, Jack assumes, why else would Daniel have been so excited? Carter, of course, declined also and rambled on about one of her many personal projects she never had time to work on.  
A small smile spreads across Jack's lips, and he stops seeing with his eyes, and instead sees the face of his 2IC and, try as he might to ignore them, a very many things not considered gentleman-like in any circumstance. He chuckles and takes a long sip of beer. In mid-swallow, the crunch and pop of tires on gravel pulls Jack from his reverie. He turns his head to the sound, hoping that whoever it is will think he's not home and leave. 'Me-time' never includes others in its equation. Hence the 'me' part.  
But his wishes aren't granted. He hears the sound of someone opening and closing a door. Jack sighs in exasperation and gets up out of his chair, starting to feel the other few beers he had earlier. He walks around the porch to the front of his log-cabin home and is surprised to see Samantha Carter, dressed in mostly white. He probably would have mistaken her for an angel - dressed in a white jacket and white jeans like that - if she hadn't been occupied with a stubborn purple umbrella. Her short blonde hair and her jacket are already soaked through as she tries to open the thing, and a quiet laugh escapes Jack's throat. She could program an ancient alien wormhole device to ignore its own safety protocols, like traveling through a damn sun, but she was mastered in the rain by the malfunctioning mechanics of an umbrella? If Sam was ever cute, it was now.  
The umbrella finally flies open, sending droplets of rain in all directions. Samantha Carter's face softens with relief, taking refuge under it, shaking her head of the wetness. She looks up at the porch to find Jack, looking amused, and her skin reddens a few shades, having not been aware he was watching her. She tries to smile and walks over to him, watching how he runs his hands through his feathery hair. Automatically, she shifts her thoughts to where they should be, forcing her mind not to go down that road of thought about her commanding officer. Daniel needs them, and now is not the time for daydreaming. "Sir," she says, over the dull roar of the pouring rain, as a distant rumble of thunder descends over them, "We have a problem."  
~ Two hours later, Sam and Jack are riding in the elevator silently, both with their arms folded across their chests. Sam had explained their situation on the way, and...well, from Jack's perspective, things were not good. At least that's as much as he was able to absorb from Sam's lengthy tale. Daniel apparently found something worth investigating on that moon of rocks, and brought it back to the base. Normal. From there, they brought it to the briefing room and let Daniel, Sam and the Geek Squad spend hours speculating over it, trying to figure out what it was. Also, relatively normal. Then someone did...something, and it...Jack wrenches his memory trying to find Carter's technobabble term, but he gives up trying to remember, as the elevator halts with a hiss and a bang. Sam said the device gave off some kind of energy and, of course, Daniel was the one in the way. Once again, fairly normal.  
When the doors of the elevator finally open on level 28, a tense Dr. Frasier stands on the other side, clutching a stack of folders. "Oh, good you're back," Janet sighs, looking slightly relieved but not by much. Some of her brown hair is sticking out all over the place and there are purple areas under her eyes. Jack can't remember the last time he had seen her so frazzled. "Sam, he's getting worse."  
The three of them walk as a brisk pace through the many gray halls of the SGC, to the infirmary. Jack thinks he'll find Daniel laying in a cot, with many tubes and wires attached to his skin, with some sort of sickness or poison in his veins. Everything always happens to Daniel, especially during leave, and when the incident is over, this is later how Jack usually finds him. So when they enter the room, and Jack comes across much more than he expects, he stops in mid-step, hovering by the door. For a moment, there is an emptiness inside him, like someone had removed all of the organs he possessed. The numbness travels then to his brain, and he is disturbed by what he sees, a rapid beeping burrowing straight through his ears.  
Janet and Sam don't hesitate for a second and they both rush to Daniel's side. He is, for lack of a better term, 'hooked-up' but the cords and wires are flailing through the air along with Daniel's arms. His back is in a perfect arc, bent back like that girl in the exorcist, suspended almost more than a foot above the bed. His face is mashed into the pillow. His arms continue to flail wildly, fighting off nobody, and the heart monitor is beeping so fast, Jack waits with that empty, breathless feeling for the beeps to coalesce into one steady tone...


	2. The Bloodshed of Ares

Jack has seen seizures before, but not any like that. Never like that. The shock of it actually makes him dizzy, remembering that it's Daniel in that room. He can only imagine what he's going through. Whatever that is.  
He does not go into the infirmary; can't bring himself to. Instead, he leans against the wall, trying to be numb to his thoughts. His head is back, eyes staring at a spot near the red light on the wall. Minutes go by, doesn't matter how many, and then he feels a hand at his shoulder. His eyes focus back in and he looks over at Carter. Her face is distraught, clearly, and she looks like she's been crying. He hates to see her cry, and it did not happen often, yet ironically, sometimes it was when her face was most beautiful.  
"Come on," she says quietly, crossing the space in front of him. He follows her wordlessly as they make their way down the halls. He tries desperately to think of nothing, but his mind races against his will. Jack is no stranger to loss, having lost his son and many of his friends. There are, also, the many good soldiers he'd trained who's bitter ends were all found in bullets.  
But this time it is different. At first, Jack couldn't stand the man! Sometimes he still has a hard time breathing the same air as Dr. Jackson. He's always spending hours upon months, days and years of his life devoted to the past and things that no longer matter anymore. Daniel's absurdly geeky fascination drives Jack biserk more often than not and he is certain that Daniel was one of those kids he used to beat up in high school. But try as he might, Daniel has become more than a good friend to Jack, almost like a little brother, as they constantly risk their and everyone else's necks side by side. Teal'c is like an older brother, Daniel the younger, and Sam . . .well, Sam . . . It's different because, this time, the prospect of more loss scares Jack more than he thought it would. To lose Daniel for good would be like losing Charlie all over again...and that almost didn't go so well last time.  
They take a right and a quick left and ascend the stairs to the control room. The sound of clacking keys and beeping sensors fills their ears and they approach General Hammond, standing straight, hands clasped behind him.  
"Colonel."  
"General."  
"Glad to have you back," Hammond says gloomily, "I just wish it could be under better circumstances."  
"I agree," Jack replies. "What are we doing about the situation, General?"  
"We sent SG-6 back to the moon on PJX-962, to speak with the locals..."  
"There were locals, sir?" Jack asks.  
"Yes, they...look similar to Native Americans here on earth. Rather friendly people. We just received a radio transmission from Major Grace," The General continues. He sighs deeply. "The only explanation they were able to get is that the orb is 'magic', given to them by their deity. They did a sweep of the site and the surrounding area and found no evidence of any technology; alien, advanced or otherwise."  
"Dammit!" Sam exclaims quietly.  
Both men turn to her, with raised eyebrows.  
"Sorry," she says quickly, shaking her flustered brain. "It's just...I ran tests on it before I left to get the Colonel and I didn't find anything either. It's giving off absolutely no...energy or anything at all, which doesn't make any relevent sense. I'd hoped they would have found...something..."  
"Where is this device, Major?" Jack asked.  
"Upstairs..."  
Sam leads him up the metal stairs to the briefing room. Jack walks past her at the top step and enters quickly. There is no one around. The black swivel chairs closest to him are still unoccupied, pushed in under the table, as they should be. The other chairs, however, are all knocked over, laying on their sides, spread out across the space. Hundreds of notes and various papers are strewn across the floor, covering its surface. On the table are many disheveled piles of paper as well, and on the other end of the glossy mahogany, suspended in mid air, is a tiny glass orb, no bigger than Jack's fist. Its milky colors swirl around in a sea of blue and green, illuminating up the furniture around it in a murky light. Jack begins to approach it.  
"Uh, sir..." Sam's voice wavers from behind him, hesitantly. He stops and turns around. "I fainted shortly after performing those tests, I...we decided that no one should go near it anymore."  
Jack pauses between the table and the door, eyes drawn to the apple-sized ball of energy. It is a wonder to him how something so small could be so dangerous. He pulls his eyes from it. "Did you see Janet yet?"  
"No, not yet sir, I left right away to get you."  
"Well...go see her...make sure you're alright. That's an order, Major," Jack says quietly, eyes drawn to the floor.  
"Yes, sir."  
They stand still in silence, absorbing the last few moments.  
"Sir..." Sam says. Jack pulls his eyes from the floor and looks Carter in the face. "I think we need to contact the Accasre," she admits, reluctantly. "Norestes."  
The sound of that name on Sam's lips brings Jack to a vivid memory, easily pluck-able from the files of his mind. He remembers a world of green and blue, with alien flora, home to millions of gnarled vines and countless trees as tall as the greatest of pyramids. Giggling voices like trickling rivers float through his inner eye, recalling the bonfires and the dances of strange people with great drums beating in the hollow deep. It was almost like magic; they'd welcomed his team with open arms and no questions at all. A pair of great green eyes penetrates the fabric of the scene in his brain, pulling tight the whispering strands of broken thought. A sigh in his ears brings Jack back to the present, and he is aware of a chill that runs quickly down his spine. This day just seems to keep getting better. "Why?"  
"Well, it's just a hunch, sir...but Norestes told me something the last time we were on her planet... something I'm not really allowed to tell and... frankly wouldn't have anyway; the idea is almost unfathomable...but I think she might be able to help us...I think. It's worth a try."  
Jack closes his eyes and rubs his temples. He sighs and remembers the last look the dark-haired Accasre gave him, the one she always gave him, like her bright emerald eyes saw right through him and saw too much, almost everything. He knows this is a stupid notion, but he still feels it every time, shivers running up and down his back. Her face never shows any emotion besides complete calm and, as beautiful as she may be, it damn near creeps the hell out of him. It is that part of her and more that constantly reminds him that she isn't anywhere near a human being, regardless of how much she resembles one. Jack is NOT looking forward to seeing this woman, but he knows she could really help them out. Not only that, if Daniel ever wakes from his torture, her presence would really do him good. Daniel has an obvious thing for her. Well, obvious from Jack's point of view, anyway. Ever since that Soul-Melding thing she made him try, it was like they both knew a big, honkin' secret that they weren't planning on telling anyone about. Plenty of times Jack had been tempted to tell them go get a room. But, on that and many other rare occasions, he decided to hold his tongue. "Go tell Hammond," he says to Carter, not recognizing his own voice.  
"Yes, sir."  
"And then see Janet!"  
"OK, sir."  
Sam turns and heads back down the stairs. Jack can already feel a sense of unease raise the hairs on the back of his neck.  
Norestes.  
Great.


	3. The Enigmas of Athina

The comforting silver-blue glare of the wormhole's event horizon shimmers across the walls like liquid light. Jack stands in the control room behind Silar and Walter, his arms crossed over his chest. He sighs.  
"Don't feel so bad, Colonel," Walter says reassuringly, clicking away at his keys, shifting from monitor to monitor in his swivel chair. "She creeps the hell outta us, too," Silar added.  
Jack smiles cynically. From the shimmering silver pool then comes a figure. Jack averts his gaze to a spot near Walter's busy fingers. He can already feel his comfort diminishing. He reluctantly turns his gaze back. The Accasre walks gracefully down the on-ramp, head held high, picking up her green dress as she descends the stairs. She pushes her long raven hair behind her as she is met by Sam. Sam smiles and both women embrace each other in a tight hug. Jack is shocked to see Norestes smiling...sort of. There is no real change in the dimensions of her fairytale face, but he...can tell she is happy to see Sam. They pull away from each other and Norestes turns to shake Hammond's hand, her face still somehow portraying an air of calm and contentedness.  
Jack watches as Sam and Hammond speak words he cannot hear, and he sees Norestes's face falter for only a moment. She blinks and turns her face upwards, towards Jack. She glares at him right in the eye. A chill runs up his spine, giving him goosebumps.  
A really great day. Really.  
Norestes turns her head away and follows Sam and the General out of the room. A few seconds pass and Jack sees Sam in his peripheral vision walk up the stairs to the control room, followed by Hammond. Jack closes his eyes in discomfort when the Accasre enters the room. But he knows he can't be obviously rude to this woman; it would be worse than slighting the Asgard. Even though bravado doesn't matter; she can see right through him in a way no one ever has, like she has perfect vision, able to see through all the bullshit. He sucks it up and turns to face her.  
Norestes's hair is still extremely lengthy, hanging down past her waist, a lustery onyx amongst blonde and gray. She is wearing a light green gown this time, a few hundred shades lighter than her eyes, which are still the vibrant green Jack remembered them to be. The idea of Emerald City will never give him the full comfort it used to, and will always remind him of the way her face is too naturally shaped. The smooth bones of her skull are perfectly curved to create what Jack perceives as the most graceful-looking creature to walk the earth and back. It is within these features that he finds no solace, regardless of how beautiful she is.  
"Jack," she says, her voice like a grand piano on the wind. She bows her head in respect.  
"Nora," he returns, shifting uncomfortably.  
"I offer my condolences, Colonel," she says gracefully.  
Daniel's not dead yet, Jack thinks, irate.  
"Where is this device you told me of?" She asks Sam, in a voice slightly more feminine.  
Sam does not reply and instead beckons for Nora to follow her. They pass Jack to ascend the stairs, and Nora's eyes catch Jack's off-guard. The moment lasts only less than a second, but in that second her eyes peirce his soul, knowing too much. He shakes himself of the heebie-jeebies when her back is turned and follows behind General Hammond.


	4. The Pestulence of Asteria

The last time Daniel lost it, Sam remembers, she and Janet convinced General Hammond to call Nora. Colonel O'Neill had been off-world at the time, assisting SG-6 with their geological survey. SG-6's commander had broken his leg, and his replacement was held back due to recenty surgery. Sam still had her naquadah reactor to calibrate, Teal'c was supposed to contact Bra'tac...things had gotten a little hectic that week, and Jack was the only one at hand for the temporary assignment. Sam was asked to be present during the ceremony between Daniel and Nora, back on the planet of constant song and plant life. It was beautiful; the most impressive display of electromagnetism she'd ever witnessed. She asked every prodding question she could, and got no answers in return. She'd been very jealous; the Accasre, as they called themselves, specifically asked her not to bring any of her equipment, regardless how politely she asked them. She never really learned what was going on, geologically or biologically. It was a tender hurt to be pushed away from such a beautiful discovery. But once the ceremony began, she understood their want for secrecy. After it was over, a change had come over Daniel; Sam could see it in his eyes. They were still pearlescent blue and and uncommonly kind, but they didn't seem so lost anymore. There was a completeness about him that he never possessed in the time Sam had known him. Jack noticed it, too, but not quite in the same way. On occasion, they would discuss it with one another, but only briefly. Teal'c was convinced it was a spiritual change, but Sam knew it had something to do with the elder, Nora. She, after all, was the one who suggested it, and even performed it, as she was the only one in the whole village they visited who did majira...  
That's what they called it; Majira.  
Groundbreaking scientific phenomena aside, after Daniel's last episode shook the base, with Jack being gone, Sam knew exactly who to call. Nora seemed to have a way with Daniel's mind that Sam had never seen before. Things went back to normal rather quickly. With General Hammon's permission, the incident went unwritten. There was no report, no debriefing. When Jack came back, no one told him what had almost happened...  
With this secret in mind, Sam reaches the top of the staircase, turning to the side to let the beautiful creature pass her. When her green eyes meet the blue orb on the table, Nora halts suddenly, silently. Her thin lips part in a gape. She turns her eyes to Sam and then the rest of her face follows, painted with uncertainty.  
"Where did you find this?" the woman asks, in a timid voice.  
"A moon," Sam replies.  
Nora walks through the room, crossing the rug in quick, silent steps, hands guarded on either side. Her gown makes less noise than grass in the wind. She walks around the table to the other side, stepping gracefully over fallen chairs, eyes never leaving the orb.  
"Apheterum Elough," she says, barely above a whisper.  
Sam turns and exchanges a glance with Jack. He'd been watching the floor, but he heard what the woman said. That was the name the locals had given Daniel.  
"What do you know about it?" Jack asks, eyes still drawn to the carpet.  
Nora's eyes finally break away from the orb and scan the scene before her. "Someone has affected it," she states, walking around the rest of the table.  
There is a slight pause. "Yeah," Jack says, before the General could get his word in. "That's why we called you."  
"This is beyond my skill," She admits, approaching the group. "I have insufficient power to deal with this matter."  
The room buzzes in silence, magnifying the high-pitch sound that has started in Sam's left ear. "So, you can't help him?"  
"I cannot," Norestes said in her voice of silken acetaminophen.  
"What if i told you it was Daniel?" Jack says, softly.  
Nora's eyes shift to Jack and Sam can swear her face has fallen, if only slightly. Sam has never seen such a change in the dimensions of her face before.  
"Take me to him, Jack," she commands, her voice devoid of any shred of the emotion she let gather in her eyes.


	5. The Arrogance of Janus

**It's been a long freakin' time since I've been on Fanfiction. I started a Stargate story back when there were only 800 all together, and so far this is my third account; I keep forgetting my passwords and deleting old emails. 27,000 stories is UNBELIEVABLE! I'm so happy you all exist. But I've been away for so long, i forgot one of the most important parts of proof-reading: SPELL CHECK! haha. So, I've gone through these chapters again and fixed all of my embarrassingly unnecessarily bad misspellings. Once again, I don't own these characters, as much as I feel like I know them better than my own. xD**

**-Maegwynn O Lander**

* * *

It had been a great many hours and Daniel Jackson's condition still had not changed. He was no longer severely convulsing, with the exception of a twitch in the muscle of his arm now and again, but he would not wake from his long sleep. O'Neill often spoke quietly to him as though he could hear his words, but no amount of sarcasm or lengthy drolling stories would break the doctor's slumber. In the infirmary the air was fetid, and people kept coming and going, unable to weather the stifling tension. Especially Samantha Carter. She entered and left the room on multiple occasions, more than any two people, seemingly unable to make a decision. Even Dr. Frasier could not stay by Daniel Jackson's bedside for more than a few minutes, and Teal'c is certain that Janet has a stronger stomach than even the most ruthless of First Primes.  
Teal'c takes a deep breath. He has just exited a deep state of Kel-no-Reem, hundreds of candles alight on the floor before him. He can almost still discern the evanescent shape of Daniel Jackson, sitting cross-legged above the candle lights. Sweat beads on Teal'c's temple. He knows he has communicated with Daniel. There is a restlessness about him, a sense of struggle and regret. But there is much more. A deep chasm of the psyche waits beneath Teal'c crossed legs, and it sits there, stagnant, lingering, waiting to devour him whole. Even after severing the connection with his symbiotic, a vague pit of darkness still envelops his thoughts, his emotions, and fear keeps him rooted to the spot. He feels flighty and lost, like a young boy once again. Teal'c is no stranger to fear, but after being away from such an acquaintance for so long, he has forgotten how overbearing such a force can truly become. It freezes his veins, drives the air from his lungs. His muscles will not respond, he cannot speak or call out. His throat constricts, words become gibberish, and a sense of doom pervades his consistent air of calm. It is more terrifying than being adrift in the dark eternity of space. So acutely final, he dreads it far worse than death . . .  
A tear falls from Teal'c face and in that gentle moment, he escapes his mental bonds. A shiver steals him away, and he hastily removes the wetness from his face. Groaning, he stands, and begins to blow out the candles, slowly, one by one, until all that is left is darkness.  
He had not intentionally sought out the consciousness of Daniel Jackson. He had found an exceptionally relaxed state in which to meditate, but it was a short-lived success. The thought of Dr. Jackson had not been his own, and it had not happened suddenly, but rather came on in waves. At first it was like whispers, barely noticeable in the corner of his mind. Memories of when they met, and how they grew into friendship. He hushed them all away, hardly an effort required. It was only when he began to SEE things that he felt his first reach towards alarm. Major Carter's hair. Dr. Frasier's penlight. A number of the staff nurses. A pacing Jack O'Neill running his hands through his hair in frustration. His point of view for these images was set downwards at an angle, as if he were in a lying position. Then the sensations arrived, miniscule at first but then slowly became unbearable. Restlessness. Burning. Abdominal pains, muscle aches. His head was in a vice, his eyes dipped in liquid naquadah. His fingers and toes were on fire.  
But then came the pit.  
It started at the corner of the hospital room. The blinking red klaxon on the wall above one of the doorways started to flicker until it was off. The electrical equipment in the surrounding area extinguished themselves shortly after. In the very corner where the walls met the ceiling, a black ooze began to leak. It dripped slowly down the walls, splashing onto the linoleum, and started to bubble and spit at the source. Soon, most of the top corner of the room was covered in the strange black ooze, and it continued to spread. It gained a thicker mass, like it was made of clouds or mist rather than some sticky liquid. Closer and closer it filled up the room, yet no one seemed to notice at all. His heart sped up, and fear coated his mouth and tongue in a bitter taste. He tried to call out, to warn them, but his body would not comply. As the blackness engulfed the room completely, all the monitors and tools began to fly around in haphazard circles, tables and swivel chairs headed towards the berth of the void. Like a black hole, the darkness sucked up the world around him, stretching the lights into long lines and streaks. People's bodies were pulled into thin, grotesque shapes and pulled inwards by the awesome gravity. The hole in the world grew bigger still, threatening to swallow him, devour him, destroy him. A throaty laugh made it's way in between his ears, and before the event horizon reached his legs, Teal'c awoke in his personal chambers.  
As he blows on the flame of the last candle, Teal'c decides that it is a message beyond only himself, and he must divulge it to his friends. In Kel-no-reem, no such violations of the spirit are possible. It is not unheard of, and quite common, to experience outer-body sensations and to be privvy to the enigmas of another mind. But such personal intrusions, such an assault on a strong will, did not often succeed. Teal'c has communicated to Daniel Jackson by way of the spirit before, and what he just experienced was nothing of the kind.  
When he exits his room, he heads to the direction of the infirmary, where he knows the Accasre will be, stoic and unreadable, with her ageless hands still rested upon Daniel's brow as he left her.


	6. The Duplicity of Erebus

He is a boy. The cerulean sky is bereft of a single cloud. Heat billows around him in thick waves like great silk sheets being shaken and tossed under the desert sun. Sand collects around his ankles in the hot, dry wind. Voices whisper softly in the breeze, just out of the range of his ears, telling him to walk on, walk on. The landscape is barren, rolling golden hills far as his young eyes can see in the desolate air of the Libyan desert. The abyss glares back at him with contempt, ready to grind him into a powder as fine as the grains of the Great Sand Sea. He turns around, and at his bare feet he finds a long, dark shadow. He follows the shadow with his eyes, and in the sands ahead is a mammoth stone archway, a gaping mouth protruding from the side of the dune. Slowly he shuffles through the sand, making his way beneath the tall shade, lest he might get his blistered skin out of the unforgiving sun. He approaches the square archway as if in a trance, unable to stop himself and walk the other way, unable to care or understand why. Wary, he peeks into the cavern entrance, cool air settling upon his face and shoulders. On any normal occasion, Danny wouldn't dream of entering a strange ruin without asking his parents to make sure if it was safe. But this thought washes away as easily as it was built, and his cracked feet bring him into the unknown.  
He walks with no purpose, blind and alone. There is no light to be had, no buffeted zephyr of warm silk at his back. There is no sweat on his brow. He walks on and on, taking no turns, no twists or bends of the path. The darkness is inviting, concealing, comforting. He runs a hand across the sandstone wall as he scuffles along further and further into the black. He is stolen by a shiver that racks his bones, makes his teeth rattle in his head. Something vaguely prods him from behind, pushes him to keep going, to keep walking. A hot, shaky breath pools around his ear and neck. He is suddenly filled with fear and dread, and the thing behind him gets closer and closer. He is possessed by an onslaught of will, and the overwhelming desire to run.  
He runs.  
It does not matter that the way is overlain with rocks and that he stubs his toe every few feet. It doesn't matter that he is out of breath, dehydrated and starving. It does not matter that he is already dead. It's coming. And he must run. He briefly looks behind to catch a glimpse of his pursuer, even though he cannot see at all, and when he turns his head back, he is running full-speed into a great wall of light. He tries to stop, but his forward momentum is too strong. Danny stumbles into the well-lit space, eyes stinging and squinting from the brightness.  
It is quiet. There isn't a single sound. There are people. This is the first thing he notices when his eyes begin to adjust. The light is still a bit too bright, casting a filtered glow upon everything. Some of the people are sitting in chairs, but most of them are milling about hurriedly, carrying clipboards. There are beds. Many of them. But only one is occupied. In the haze, Danny moves towards the occupied bed, surrounded by a small contingent of people. He recognizes none of them. The closer he approaches the bed, the clearer things become. There is a man with greying hair, a blond woman and a bald dark-skinned man. A doctor suddenly crosses the space in front of him, almost knocking him down. Recovering, he touches the end of the bed, and leans forwards to get a better look at who was lying in it.  
He stared wide-eyed, at himself.


End file.
